The cooling curve of stearic acid:

Research question: How does the rate of temperature (which is how

quickly or how slowly the temperature of stearic acid changes over a

specific period, measured in degrees celsius per minute) change in

stearic acid vary over time to solidification, when exposed to

controlled room temperature.

Independent variable: time in seconds(S)

Dependable variables: temperature in degrees celsius (°C)

Controlled variables: room temperature and temperature of the

Bunsen burner

Supporting background theory:

The temperature change in stearic acid during solidification is

affected by several factors. Firstly, stearic acid has a specific heat

capacity, which is how much heat it can absorb or release as it goes

through temperature changes. Secondly, the process of

solidification involves the giving out, of latent heat of fusion, which

is: the energy released as stearic acid changes from a liquid to a

solid state. This release of latent heat affects the speed at which the
temperature decreases during solidification. Also, the experiment

involves exposing the stearic acid to two different environments:

controlled room temperature and heat from a Bunsen burner. The

controlled room temperature provides a baseline for natural

cooling, while the Bunsen burner heat introduces an additional heat

source that can, in most cases, accelerate or alter the solidification

process. By observing the temperature change over time in both

cases, we can observe how these factors affect the solidification

process of stearic acid.

Formula for specific heat capacity in thermodynamics:

Where Q= heat energy, m=mass, c=specific heat capacity and

ΔT=change in temperature.
The simple Formula for latent heat of fusion in the Enthalpy of

fusion is:

And the original formula for latent heat of fusion is

Hypothesis:
As stearic acid solidifies exposed to the controlled temperature

of the room, the temperature change will showcase a rapid

decrease, then a more incremental decline, ultimately reaching

a stabilise. This pattern shows the reducing availability of latent

heat of fusion and the increasing effect of thermal equilibrium

(state of balance or stability in temperature) with the

surroundings, leading to a stable rate of temperature change

showing that the stearic acid has completely solidified.

Procedure and experimental set-up:

- Eye protection must be worn.

- Half fill a test tube with stearic acid and place it in a beaker of

water

- Heat the water until all the stearic acid has melted and its

temperature reaches about 80°C.

- Remove the test tube and arrange it with a thermometer in the

liquid stearic acid.

- Record the temperature every minute until it has fallen to

60°C.

Raw and processed data tables:

Initial temperature=24°C

Time(s) heating (°C) Cooling (°C)

30s 32.5 77

60s 40 72
90s 47 68

120s 55 66

150s 61 64

180s 68 64

210s 71 64

240s 81 64

270s 83 64

300s 93 63.5

330s 63

360s 102 63

390s 63

420s 63

450s 63

480s 62.75

510s 62

540s 62

570s 61

600s 61

630s 60.5

660s 60

690s 59

720s 56
Graphical interpretation of the data:

Here the rate of temperature refers to how quickly the temperature is

increasing or decreasing over a period of time and it includes average and

precise rates of change, and unit of measurement in this case = Celsius

(°C).

So rate of temperature here involves rates of change which is associated

with, in maths for calculating how the graph changes over time using

differentiation, by finding the derivative (denoted by d/dx as a verb and

dy/dx as a noun) of a function tells us how the graph changes over time,

thus rates of change, the derivative of the function of this graph will tell us

the slope of the secant (sec) line as h approaches 0 or the instantaneous

rate of change, usually used to find the curve’s gradient by draw a secant

line from point A of curve to point B of the curve, the distance between

these two points in calculus is 0, or in other words we took the limit of h as

h approaches to zero (limit of h as h approaches zero is in the formula of

the definition of the derivative) , but here we don’t have the function of the

graph, so it would be a little bit difficult to find the derivative of the

cooling curve of the stearic acid, (normally in physics we just find the

derivative of the function) instead we will want to find the rate of

temperature using the average and not the precise/exact rates of change,

which is nothing but the rate of temperature.

Here for average rates of change we have a formula for the rate of

the temperature, which is the same formula for the average rates of

change, also known as the formula for finding the gradient m, or

rise over run, (y₂−y₁/x₂−x₁), or just Δy/Δx:

Rate of temperature = difference between two temperature

measurements divided by the time interval between the

measurements.

Rate of temperature for melting of stearic acid:

Time interval(s). Temperature change(°C). Rate of temperature(°C/s)

30-60s 7.5 6/25

60-90s 7 7/30

90-120s 8 4/15

120-150s 6 1/5

150-180s 7 7/30

180-210s 3 1/10

210s-240s 10 1/3

240s-270s 2 1/15

270s-300s 10 1/3

300s-330s 3 1/10

330s-360s 6 1/5

Rate of temperature for cooling of stearic acid:

Time interval(s). Change in temperature(°C). Rate of temperature(°C/s).

30-60s 5 1/6
60-90s 4 2/15
90-120s 2 1/15
120-150s 2 1/15
150-180s 0 0
180-210s 0 0
210s-240s 0 0
240s-270s 0 0
270s-300s 0.5 1/60
300s-330s 0.5 1/60
330s-360s 0 0
360s-390s 0 0
390s-420s 0 0
420s-450s 0 0

450s-480s 0.25 1/120

480s-510s 0.75 1/40

510s-540s 0 0

570s-600s 1 1/30

600s-630s 0 0

630s-660s 0.5 1/60

660s-690s 1 1/30

690s-720s 3 1/10

Graphical interpretation of the data:

And if we plot this graph, the graph is supposed look something

like:
This cooling curve shows that the melting and freezing point of
stearic acid is about 69.3°C, meaning that the stearic acid has
solidifies at 69.3°C,the stearic acid cools rapidly initially, followed by
a point A to B where the stearic acid does release latent heat of
fusion but does not decrease in temperature, after the phase from A
to B, the slope of the curve is declining but at a lower steepness,
showing that the stearic acid is now losing temperature and
approaching room temperature but at a slower rate of temperate than
the initial phase of the stearic acid.

Conclusion and evaluation:

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the cooling curve analysis of stearic acid reveals its

melting and freezing point around 69.3°C. Initially, the acid cools
rapidly, followed by a phase where latent heat of fusion is released
without a decrease in temperature. Then, the rate of cooling
decreases steadily until it approaches room temperature, showing a
slower cooling process. This suggests clear phases in the cooling
curve of the solidification process of stearic acid.
Evaluation of faults and what we could have done
better:

While doing the experiment, we had many faults and areas where we
could have improved, too many to be named, but the main things that
we could have improved on were:

1. Do not have the thermometer touch the bottom of beaker that

holds water and the test tube that contains the stearic acid
during the process of heating and cooling of the stearic acid.
2. Do not have the test tube thats containing the stearic acid touch
the bottom of the beaker in the process of heating and cooling of
the stearic acid.
3. Don’t shake the test tube too much in the process of heating and
cooling the stearic acid.
4. Record every temperature change over time in the stearic acid in
both the heating and cooling process of the stearic acid (because
we missed 1 or 2 temperature measurements).
5. And our most fatal error: to start recording immediately when
we removed the test tube from the beaker after the stearic acid
completely melted, we waited for at least 2 whole minutes
before remembering to start the timer and record the
temperature each 30s, by doing this we missed the initial
temperature of the cooling of stearic acid,
Because of these errors, I interpret that the temperature scaling for
ours might be a little inaccurate and defer from the original graph of
cooling curve of stearic acid, because for us the stearic acid did not
start melting until around 83°C and did not completely melt until
about a 100°C, and not only did we miss the initial temperature
reading of stearic acid during the process of cooling, we also missed 1
temperature reading later on, about mostly after 300s.

Citations:
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/how-to-draw-a-graph-for-st
earic-acid-11925201
https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/programmes-and-qualificati
ons/cambridge-igcse-physics-0625/endorsed-resources/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_heat_capacity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enthalpy_of_fusion